BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Last year, Johnathan Riley had a definite plan for after-school activities. It involved his buddies, a basketball and bright, blue skies.
That was fine until a neighborhood fight sparked by something no one remembers landed the 12-year-old and his friends in the anxiety- inducing clutches of several Cincinnati police officers.
Although Johnathan didn't get into serious trouble, his parents refused to stand by idly. So they put him and his siblings in an after-school day care run by the Cincinnati Recreation Commission (CRC) at Pleasant Hill School in College Hill.
"We definitely didn't want him just not having anything to do after school and getting into any type of trouble," said Tracey Fishback, Johnathan's legal guardian. "We'd rather he was in this day camp, busy with activities and going on field trips. For a young child his age, he needs something more educational, more structured."
In its third year, the program is the CRC's first after-school day care in Cincinnati Public Schools that is licensed and accepts welfare vouchers as payment.
That's crucial, because nearly 70 percent of the district's students come from families that are on public assistance.
The 72-student program has proven so popular -- it has a 20-student waiting list -- that CRC workers decided to open a similar program at Washburn Elementary School in the West End this fall.
The Washburn program is open to students in kindergarten through sixth grade. It costs $20 a week. To register, call Michele Ellis at 721-6514.
At both programs, students do homework, play games, do crafts and get snacks. They also take monthly field trips; this month, the Pleasant Hill day campers will head to Discovery Zone in Forest Park.
Besides helping working parents, the program has kept many kids on the right track, Principal Henri Frazier said.
"Classes end at 1:45, but you have a lot of parents who aren't out of work till 5, 6 o'clock," Mrs. Frazier said.
"This program keeps the kids off the streets and out of trouble, it stops the gangs from getting new recruits, it keeps the kids from calling 911 on the (pay) phone outside and it gets rid of the library's problem with kids hanging out there and being loud."
Pleasant Hill's program runs 1:45-6 p.m. weekdays; in the summer, it was open 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays.
It costs $35 a week. About three-quarters of the kids in the program use welfare vouchers.
